Devereux's "Fungicide" is approachable dark surrealism at its best. There is a recurring oeuvre to the whole CD, but each individual piece differs substantially from each other. At turns haunting, whimsical, celebratory, and dread-filled, the music herein spans a wide emotive range, all with an underlying sense of unease and tension. It echoes faintly of Gabriel's "Passion: Music from The Last Temptation of Christ" but in a more ambient, electronic vein. The arrangements are complex, rather than simplistic, so this is a thinking listener's album. You need not be familiar with author Jeff VanderMeer's writing (which inspired the music), but reading a portion of his work with this CD turned low in the background is a real treat. The excerpt from VanderMeer's upcoming novel that is included in the liner notes helps here, and the beautiful artwork of Hawk Alfredson, along with a reading by VanderMeer himself, completes the multi-media experience. Highly recommended for lovers of dark ambience and fans of VanderMeer's work alike.
- Forrest Aguirre, Editor of Leviathan 4
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